Snapshots
by KageNoYoko
Summary: A collection of shorts where I plan to both expand on my Neptune X Blanc RL AU universe, and just a place to put in a few fluffy Neptune X Blanc short stories. All entries are intended to fit into the Neko Date Universe, but reading it isn't required.
1. Kiss on the forehead

A/N: this took much longer to get started on then I had originally planned considering the length of the chapter I intended to write, but hey what are you going to do.

 **Hope that everyone enjoys.**

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Histoire Tennouboshi sighed to herself as she climbed the stairs up to her daughter's room after she and her best friend Blanc had scurried up following another of their "adventures" exploring every nook and cranny of the city.

From experience Histoire knew that Neptune would beg her to let Blanc stay over for the night, and she was helpless to resist the puppy-dog eyes of her seven-year old daughter. It didn't hurt that Blanc helped to keep Neptune grounded and out of trouble, which she would never stop thanking the brunette for when thoughts of the alternative slipped into her mind.

Pausing on her way past Neptune's room on the way to the linen cupboard where the family kept the extra futon, blankets, and pillows for when Blanc stayed over, Histoire felt a strange need to poke her head into the room through the slightly ajar door to see what kind of trouble Neptune and Blanc might be getting into.

The mother was surprised to catch sight of the curtains drawn closed across the window to darken the entire room and the overhead lights turned off for now, and a quick glance allowed her to locate her daughter curled up on her bed fast asleep, judging by the soft rise and fall of her sides as she breathed slowly.

What was truly surprising to the parent was the fact that Blanc was kneeling down beside the bed with her focus entirely on Neptune while the violet-haired girl slept, and Histoire could see a small smile upon the normally stoic girl's face as she watcher her best friend sleep.

She would have ducked back out of the room in order to complete her previous plan if she hadn't overheard Blanc begin speaking to her sleeping friend, and mostly curiosity kept Histoire from pulling away.

"Thanks for always pulling me out of my comfort zone you big dummy" Blanc told Neptune with a smile in a surprisingly warm voice for the girl that usually guarded her emotions from everyone's view.

Getting an odd sense of what was to come, Histoire reached down to one of the pockets that she had sewn into her skirt, and pulled out a small camera that she had taken to keeping on hand ever since Neptune was born in order to capture the best moments in her child's life. It had become especially useful considering Histoire's significant other was often out of the country trying to support the family, and she took a certain amount of joy in sitting together with Arfoire Tennouboshi looking through the photo album of pictures starring their baby girl.

It turned out that following her instincts had been a good idea as Histoire saw Blanc leaning in towards Neptune, and Histoire held her breath as her mind rushed to think of what the brunette might have planned.

A mixture of luck and experience allowed the former businesswoman to take a picture at the perfect time, just as Blanc pressed her lips to Neptune's forehead in a chaste kiss that would have made Histoire coo at how adorable the moment was in any other situation.

Slipping the camera away for now with a warm smile on her face and content in the knowledge that Neptune definitely had someone to watch out for her (And maybe a lifelong partner that she just didn't know about yet) Histoire continued towards the linen cupboard to collect the bedding supplies and then go and wake up her daughter to ask what they would like for dinner.

She knew that Neptune would want to tell her all about what she and Blanc had done while they were outside, and looked forward to every minute of it.

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

 **Considering that the length of these will tend to vary but are probably going to be shorter than some other projects I work on, I shouldn't have to worry too much about typing them out after I get an idea for one of these shorts. The only issue that I can see is finding the encouragement to work on them, but I've been dealing with that for years now.**

 **Until later everyone!**


	2. Ally of Justice

Neptune was a big fat, stupid idiot, or so Blanc thought to herself as she watched miss Histoire clean and bandage Neptune's injuries as the violet-haired girl sat on the toilet with a goofy smile across her face.

Blanc sat nearby on the rim of the bathtub pouting and trying not to look directly at her best friend while her mom took care of the worst of her daughter's wounds, all the while Blanc kept repeating in her mind how dumb Neptune was.

The pair had been at the park spending time together after Histoire ushered them out of the house for a while, and Blanc was happily reading a book in silence while Neptune busied herself on the monkey bars with accompanying laughter that brought a smile to Blanc's face, when the brunette noticed a shadow come over the pages of the girl's book.

Lifting her head allowed Blanc to see a trio of older boys standing around her with stupid grins on their faces and their arms crossed. One had a bandage on his cheek, another was thin and lanky, and the last was a bit heavier-set, and all three looked imposing to the slight ten-year old girl.

"Look at this little brat sitting here reading in our park" the 'leader' of the trio announced to his friends earning laughter from them as though he had told the best joke ever, though the weak insult only made Blanc roll her eyes before she tried to return to her book. She was under the impression that as long as she ignored them they would grow bored and find something else to do with their time.

Squeaking as one of the boy's hands appeared in her vision and took hold of her book; Blanc's face contorted into a scowl as the older boy pulled the book away from her and lifted it up over his head.

"You should pay attention when your betters are talking to you little brat, haven't you heard that we own this park?" the leader informed Blanc as though his words were fact, while the brunette climbed to her feet.

Barely standing up to the older boy's chest due to her lacking height, Blanc didn't show any of the fear that someone else might in this situation, and instead scowled up at the bully as her shoulders shook slightly.

Noticing that she was obviously planning something, the leader leaned in slightly with a smirk on his face, and decided to tease the younger girl further "it looks like this little brat is going to start crying, what's the matter little girl, going to cry because you're so weak?" He asked in a condescending voice, with the added sound of the other boys laughing once more echoing over his shoulders as he still held onto her book.

Without a care of the consequences and the need to get her book back from the taller bully, Blanc immediately went for the most obvious solution, and used all of her strength to kick the boy in the knee to great effect. The older boy tumbled over onto his butt and in his surprise at the attack ended up dropping Blanc's book, which she scurried to collect before backing up against the tree she had been leaning against while the other boys faces morphed from surprise to anger at the younger girl.

"What are you idiots looking at, get that little brat!" The leader cried from the ground at his henchmen, snapping the pair out of their stupor. Both began advancing on Blanc from either side, making her heart jump in her chest when she realized that this plan hadn't exactly been well thought out.

Everything appeared to stop momentarily for Blanc as a head of bright violet hair appeared in front of her, as Neptune slid to a stop between Blanc and the bullies with one of her bright smiles still across her face.

"Who are you supposed to be, some kind of knight in shining armor?" The leader asked incredulously at the equally short girl tried to stand in the way of his friends and their target.

"I'm an ally of justice!" Neptune announced proudly as she tried to stand at her full height in front of Blanc to limited effectiveness, thumping herself on the chest to accentuate her point as she smiled up at the older boys "I won't let you hurt my best friend" she added as an afterthought.

The boys took a moment to size up the threat that the young girl might be, before the leader laughed and gave orders to his friends "if she wants to take the beating that we were going to give to this little bookworm, I don't see why we shouldn't give it to her."

Neither of the other boys seemed to have a problem with this, as they charged at Neptune to begin the fight while Blanc watched on helplessly as her best friend took her beating.

Thankfully it wasn't as one-sided a fight as Blanc had initially expected, and Neptune gave as good as she got with kicks, punches and a few bites on the older boys, but in the end came out worse then either of the older boys when an adult realized what was going on and came to break up the fight.

The three boys had noticed the adult coming before either Neptune or Blanc, and ran off with their tails between their legs as expected of a bunch of bullies, leaving a battered and bruised violet-haired girl and her concerned brunette friend to explain what had happened to the older woman, and were escorted home at the woman's insistence.

Neptune's mother was understandably upset at hearing that her daughter had gotten into a fight, and almost dragged Neptune into the bathroom so that she could help clean the girl up, while Blanc followed quietly with her mind a storm of conflicting thoughts about what Neptune had done for her.

Eventually her mind had settled on the fact that Neptune was an idiot for jumping into the fight and getting hurt because of Blanc, and she was scowling at Neptune out of the corner of her eye while Neptune just kept smiling like an idiot as though nothing had happened.

Histoire had been forced to leave the room to go and answer the phone after cleaning up the worst of her daughter's injuries, leaving Blanc and Neptune in the bathroom with strict orders to not go anywhere likely because she wanted to scold the pair for getting into a fight.

Not bothered in the slightest at the threat of a scolding from her mother Neptune was still smiling as she jumped from the toilet and wandered up to Blanc, only angering the normally quiet girl further at how easygoing she was being about this.

"I sure showed those bullies what four!" Neptune announced to her best friend happily as she repeated the gesture of thumping her chest with a closed fist and a bright smile, completely unaware of the emotional turmoil that Blanc was feeling.

Blanc ignored the prickling feeling at the corners of her eyes as she looked up at Neptune from beneath her bangs, and very strongly resisted the urge to slap the stupid girl in front of her since she was already injured "Neptune you stupid idiot!" She all but shouted at her best friend.

Taking a step back in surprise at the sudden shouting from her friend, Neptune was understandably confused about the insult directed at her, and tried to form words to ask Blanc what was the matter, but couldn't seem to finish a complete sentence.

Rushing on without care for Neptune's feelings and ignoring the fact that fat tears were rolling down her cheeks from a combination of rage and sadness, Blanc continued "you shouldn't have just jumped into the fight like that, you got hurt cause of me!" she accused her best friend angrily.

A moment passed as Blanc tried to regain control of her temper while Neptune just stood there, and the washroom was silent save for a few drops of water dripping from the sink faucet as the girls stared at one another.

Blanc released a surprised squeak quite unlike herself when Neptune stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her friend's neck and pulled their bodies together in an unexpected hug. Blanc's first thought had been to push Neptune away and angrily chastise her again, but instead the brunette found herself becoming upset as more tears pooled in her eyes.

"I don't care what happens to me, but my body will break before I let someone hurt you Blanny" Neptune whispered into her friend's ear as she held Blanc close, ignoring the startled hiss that the other girl released at the statement.

"Y-you big idiot" Blanc squeaked and stuttered out, the tears falling once more while Neptune tried to comfort her stupidly amazing best friend.

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 **I ended up slipping a few references to anime into the story purely by chance, but I think that having Neptune announce such things is very much like her character as a selfless girl with a heart that's too big.**

 **This wasn't the chapter I intended to write originally, but the idea grew on me as I read a few other people's stories between sessions of World of Warcraft (sorry, got back into it again and it's been eating up a lot of my time). The story I actually intended to write between these two will be coming some time in the future, but I can't say when due to my usual writing issues.**

 **Hope that everyone enjoyed and as a little PSA: don't be a bully, and don't be a bystander. Having someone to watch your back was the kind of thing that I wished for when I was growing up, and I hope that all of my beloved readers have that kind of person in your life.**

 **Until next time everyone!**


	3. Messy day, lovely night

Blanc had returned from her classes early after one of the professors ended the lesson due to a call from the hospital regarding his wife apparently being in the middle of delivering their first child, and the somewhat short brunette had decided to unwind a bit after the brain-stressing lesson by stretching out on the couch that she and Neptune had managed to shove into their dorm room and read a book.

It was rare for Blanc to be able to enjoy the general silence of the dorm when her girlfriend was around, but the brunette had grown used to the presence of her beloved violet-haired idiot since they were childhood friends, and just treated time without her as a sort of change of scenery instead of focusing on the time with the girl chattering away in her ear.

The two had worked hard to choose a college where they could both take the courses that they wanted, and though Neptune had been a bit wary of leaving home and both her mother and little sister, they more than happily supported Neptune's need to seek out higher education.

Blanc's own younger troublemakers had refused to admit that they would miss their sister when she went off to college, but her mother had assured her that they would be fine and get over it. This was proven correct the first weekend that she and Neptune went home to visit and the two practically tackled their big sister in a two-way hug with bright smiles and stories of all the things they had done while she was gone.

On the other hand was the time that miss Arfoire Tennouboshi showed up to visit her eldest without a word of warning and throwing Blanc for a loop. She had never been sure of how to deal with the refined woman since she saw her so infrequently, but Neptune had none of her concerns and pulled her mom into a hug as soon as she had seen who was at the door of their dorm room, completely unbothered by her own current state of undress. Blanc could only be thankful that they lived in an all-girl's dorm, or else she might have given Neptune an earful for jumping out into the hall wearing only a bra and a pair of shorts.

Time at the college were no less interesting when Neptune was involved, and they had taken many frequent trips into the city looking for interesting things to do on the suggestion of a few of Neptune's friends, and the amethyst-haired girl had no problem dragging Blanc behind her to see all of the sights.

Blanc was snapped out of her wool-gathering and reminiscing as the door opened to reveal Neptune, completely out of energy and groaning as she barely kept her messenger bag hanging from her shoulder.

Stepping into the room not unlike a zombie and closing the door idly with a smack of her bottom, Neptune shuffled over to the couch where Blanc had been reading and without warning face-planted into the furniture, forcing Blanc to quickly pull her feet in or risk them getting crushed.

"Long day of classes I take it?" Blanc inquired sarcastically to her girlfriend with a small smile on her face as she kept her eyes on the story in her book and not how nice Neptune looked without any energy. She received only a long groan of exhaustion from Neptune who appeared unable to even lift her head to look at the brunette.

Marking her page and setting the book aside on the nearest bed within arm's reach with a reminder to move it before Neptune did something silly like jump onto the bed once she had more energy, Blanc climbed to her feet and moved over to the small mini-fridge they had installed in the dorm.

She kneeled down and opened the door before shuffling through a few things and making notes of a few items that were past their expiration date that she would have to get rid of before Neptune tried to eat them, and finally found the energy drinks that Neptune would sometimes use to recharge after an especially tiring day.

Grabbing one and slamming the fridge door with her foot as she got back to her feet and moved over to her girlfriend, Neptune was ready to accept the drink with a hand extended and fingers wiggling even though she still hadn't lifted her head, making Blanc chuckle at the violet-haired girl.

Handing over the drink and sitting down once more beside the girl, Blanc was thankful that she did not release a squeak when Neptune flipped over and laid out over the couch with her head resting in Blanc's lap, and instead the brunette offered a empty threat to Neptune "if you spill that on my skirt I'll have you doing all of the laundry for the next week."

Laughing off the threat and popping the lid of the energy drink Neptune took a deep sip of the life-giving fluid with an accompanying sigh. she set the drink down on the floor next to Blanc's foot for now before cuddling in closer to her girlfriend's body with a wide smile.

Taking the chance that presented itself to her Blanc allowed her hands to move down and lace themselves into Neptune's hair so she could run her digits through the neck-length strands with a small smile that she was glad Neptune couldn't see at the moment.

Releasing a coo of enjoyment at the treatment from her girlfriend Neptune launched into the story of her day without prompting "So first of all it was like my professor was speaking a completely different language today while some guy in one of my classes couldn't stop staring at me" the violet-haired girl retold her story, making Blanc frown as her grip on Neptune tightened slightly, though Neptune didn't offer a comment about it.

"After one class I got stopped by a pair of girls asking me for notes since they said that they had missed the previous lesson because they were 'busy,' but we both know what that means" Neptune told with a chuckle that Blanc couldn't help sharing, and the brunette was able to imagine how red the two girls faces had been when they told Neptune that particular fact.

"I had to remind another guy that I only like girls after another class, and when he didn't want to take no for an answer I may have laid him out in the middle of the parking lot" the amethyst-haired girl explained, making Blanc snort. She was often reminded that Neptune was not someone people should try to mess with even with her small frame.

"I'm sure that at least someone didn't appreciate you having to use force to tell that guy 'no'" Blanc mused aloud with a teasing tone in her voice that made Neptune laugh again.

"Our professor arrived on the scene and basically told that guy off once his friends got him back onto his feet," Neptune admitted with a smile on her face as she added "the fact that particular teacher was a woman definitely made it more mortifying for the poor guy."

"Poor guy? I wouldn't say something like that if he couldn't take a hint" Blanc argued with her girlfriend as a hand slid down to rest on Neptune's shoulder while the other started to stroke the girl's pale cheek.

Neptune laughed at that and nodded slightly in agreement "Mom made it quite clear that if a guy is going to start pushing something, it's better to show him why it's a bad idea to mess with the Tennouboshi family" she reminded Blanc. The fact that the brunette shivered in response to the reminder went unnoticed by Neptune.

Blanc had only seen the Tennouboshi parents furious a few times in her life, and thankfully it had never been directed towards her, but it certainly left a mark in the girl's mind to be careful with Neptune's feelings. Neither women were people to mess with as guys learned quickly when they pressed the wrong buttons, and while Neptune had a more upbeat personality she could still take a guy twice her size.

Arfoire Tennouboshi was former military and still did the training regularly according to both miss Histoire and Neptune, and Histoire Tennouboshi had been trained to defend herself by both her wife and a few self-defence classes that she had taken and practically forced both of her daughters to take as well once they were old enough.

It was reassuring to Blanc that even with her ever-goofy smile she could feel safer around Neptune when they were out in public together then anyone else she knew, and smiled as her fingers gently ghosted over the pale skin of Neptune's cheek as she listened to Neptune begin talking once more.

"Anyways I'm completely beat" the violet-haired girl announced with a deep but appreciative sigh to the attention that Blanc was giving her, and stopped to take a sip from her energy drink before she rolled over to look up at Blanc from the girl's lap "so, what do you want to do for dinner tonight?"

Though she tried desperately to resist the charms of the eldest Tennouboshi daughter Blanc couldn't help the way the corners of her lips turned up just because Neptune looked at her with those full-loving eyes "I'd be happy to go anywhere tonight."

"Well we definitely haven't gone out for a romantic dinner in a while, so how about the two of us get dressed up and paint the town?" Neptune suggested eagerly to her girlfriend, earning a raised brow from the brunette.

"I thought that you were wiped out after the day you had?" Blanc reminded the girl wryly as she took the energy drink can from Neptune and started to gently turn it, listening to the sound of the remaining liquid inside slosh around for a few moments while she waited for Neptune's response.

"Oh please Blanny, you know that I can always find a second wind if we're going to make plans to do something fun together!" Neptune argued as she sat up straight and looked straight into her girlfriend's eyes without caring about the theft of her drink.

Looking away from her girlfriend for a moment before bringing the can up and tipping it back to drain out the last of the liquid inside into her own mouth, Blanc stopped to wipe her mouth off with the back of her hand before looking back at Neptune "very well then I suppose, I will allow you to escort me out for dinner tonight" she told her girlfriend in a faux high-class socialite tone.

Neptune did not offer a vocal response to Blanc as she went with a more direct method of agreement, and leaned in to capture her girlfriend's lips with her own in a brief kiss that had both girls smiling brightly once they broke apart.

"I'd love to escort you anywhere and everywhere my beloved Blanny" Neptune replied in a surprisingly affectionate tone that touched Blanc's heart despite the goofy nickname tacked on at the end.

The day might have been a mess for Neptune, but the night was still young, and Blanc was committed to making it great by spending as much time as she could with her lovely girlfriend.


	4. Tennouboshi cousin, Noire's crush

Blanc rolled her eyes in playful annoyance as she sat next to her beloved girlfriend at a local pizza place listening to the violet-haired girl speak animatedly with Vert about some new game release coming up that both girls had been looking forward to, while Noire feigned disinterest in the conversation while her eyes scanned the rest of the shop to watch other patrons as they came and left.

The pair had met Vert and Noire in college and quickly clicked with the two girls, though it had actually been Neptune who all but dragged Noire into their circle of friends with a laughing Vert tagging along since she could relate to Neptune through their shared love of games.

Making sure to keep in contact once they each graduated the quartet had made sure to set up chances to meet and catch up despite their busy schedules and Vert's habits of pulling long nights reorganizing the shelves of her beloved gaming shop in the next town over.

Of course Noire had been the most difficult to tempt into coming to visit since she had been busy working on designs for her latest summer clothing line, but Neptune's sparkling personality shone through once more and got the poor ebony-haired girl to agree to staying a few days at a local hotel.

They were now only waiting for the arrival of Neptune's cousin before they ordered, since according to the boisterous amethyst-haired girl she was just finishing up her workout at the gym and would swing by shortly to join them. Considering what Blanc remembered of the girl in question she could only hope that Noire would be prepared to deal with two people that had the kind of boundless energy of the Tennouboshi family.

Leaning back in her chair with a laugh as Vert finished telling a story about her latest set of flustered customers due to the blonde's beauty, Neptune's eyes drifted over to her girlfriend with a soft smile that made Blanc believe she was planning something.

Just as Neptune began leaning in intending to plant a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek Noire cut in, her face red all the way up to the tips of her ears at the blatant attempt at public affection "Neptune, don't start making out with your girlfriend while we're here!" She snapped at the violet-haired girl, causing Neptune to jump in surprise while Blanc shook her head in disbelief.

"Oh come on Noire we're not all blushing teenagers anymore" Neptune tried to argue with her reserved friend "shouldn't I be allowed to show affection to my girlfriend even if we're in public?"

"Not when Vert and I can clearly see the two of you flirting right in front of us," Noire countered hotly as she pointedly looked away from Neptune again to avoid meeting those violet eyes that could stare into your soul.

"You know if the two of you started dating we wouldn't have all of these problems with public displays of affection anymore Noire" Blanc commented dryly to the sable-haired girl, causing her to release a noise between a choke and a cough at the suggestion.

"There is absolutely no way I would ever consider dating this blonde lunatic Blanc, I thought you were supposed to be the sensible person in your relationship?" Noire choked out in sheer disbelief that the brunette would ever suggest such a thing. It was well known that despite what a few people around their campus had believed Noire and Vert held no feelings for one another, which acted as an endless source of teasing by Neptune and occasionally Blanc.

"I must agree that though I enjoy Noire's company I wouldn't consider her potential date material" Vert added calmly, unbothered in the slightest by Noire's vehement complaints "besides I would never be able to work my schedule around hers, how would I find time to play my beloved online games?"

"In other words Vert is already married to her computer" Blanc quipped earning laughter from Neptune at the quite realistic comment. The violet-haired girl looked ready to add her own commentary onto her girlfriend's about Vert's habits, but paused when she caught sight of someone running up to the pizza place "Oh, there she is" Neptune chirped happily.

Four sets of eyes turned to the front door for the reveal of Neptune's cousin's arrival, Vert and Noire partially expecting the girl to share the unique violet hair of both Tennouboshi daughters.

Instead a rather brash looking girl came barrelling through the door with a bright smile on her face that could easily match Neptune in intensity, her bright red hair tied back for the moment as she stood in a pair of loose-fitting shorts and a muscle shirt that revealed far too much of her slightly tanned skin.

Noire felt like her brain stopped momentarily as she looked at this girl who she couldn't believe was related to Neptune in any way, and found her eyes following the lines of muscles displayed by her too-short shirt shamelessly.

If any of her friends had caught sight of her blatant staring they didn't comment about it aloud, as Neptune and Blanc were too busy greeting the mysterious redhead with their usual mixture of eager intensity and calm restraint, and Vert had only a serene smile upon her face.

"Hey Nepsy, sorry that it took me so long to get out, the coach wanted to make sure that I was ready for the upcoming event" The girl apologized to her cousin without an ounce of actual shame, though Neptune unsurprisingly didn't bat an eye at the delay and only smiled wider to her cousin.

"That's absolutely fine Uzume, Blanny and I know that you have to work hard to stay in shape, don't we?" Neptune asked her girlfriend, who nodded in agreement without a word. The couple moved over in the booth the girls had been sharing to permit the redhead access, which she accepted with a smile.

As though only now realizing that they weren't alone Neptune's eyes returned to her friends with a smile and she moved forward with the introductions "Vert, Noire this is my super-fit cousin Uzume" she stated happily.

"It's very nice to meet you Uzume, Neptune is quite vocal about all of her relatives and it's all good things," Vert explained to Uzume with a bright smile that the athletic girl reflected.

"Hope that it's all good things Nepsy, wouldn't want to have to teach you what-for" Uzume teased her cousin with a sly wink around Blanc that the violet-haired girl copied.

Noire's eyes couldn't seem to move from drinking in the full form of Neptune's cousin, and though a small voice was trying to remind her that this girl was related to Neptune she couldn't seem to cling onto any thoughts for more then a moment.

Obviously she had missed at least part of the conversation while she was distracted, as Noire realized that Neptune was bringing attention onto the sable-haired girl "and Noire here produces her own clothing lines" she announced to Uzume cheerfully, jump-starting Noire's brain as she tried to form words so she could actually talk to this girl.

"I-it's nice to meet you" Noire somehow managed to stutter out with her muddled brain working overtime to string two words together. Her friends had obviously noticed that there was something up with the usually composed girl after she stuttered, but Neptune bashed through it as usual.

Turning and gesturing towards her cousin with a bright smile Neptune began explaining what her cousin actually did "Uzume here is a really talented boxer and works super-hard to keep in shape and be the very best~!" The violet-haired girl told her friends, earning amused laughter from Uzume.

"Oh please Nepsy I'm not that great yet" Uzume tried to be modest, but Noire did think she was 'the very best' she had ever seen before in her life. Desperately Noire was trying to regain control of her brain so that she could say something to this goddess to little success.

"Anyways I'm starving, how about we get to ordering and enjoy some local pizza?" Neptune continued taking the lead of the conversation as expected of the tiny girl, only making Blanc smile lightly as she was the most used to her girlfriend's antics.

At last Noire found what she wanted to say, and stood up abruptly just as one of the waitresses came by to take their order, startling everyone at the table and bringing their eyes onto the black-haired girl.

"Uh is something wrong Noire, I know that you're probably as hungry as the rest of us, but there's no reason to be so eager" Neptune attempted to reason with her friend after such an unexpected outburst, but Noire powered on even though she was now screaming in her head for making a scene.

Staring straight at Uzume and trying to gather every ounce of her courage while pushing down her nerves Noire managed to choke out what she wanted to say, though it may not have come out quite how she wanted "Uzume, you and me, date please."

Everything became still around the table as everyone watched Noire for any signs of another outburst, not even the waitress daring to move in order to do her job as all of their minds tried to process just what Noire had said.

Noire was the first to move after the embarrassing incident and fell back into her seat with a loud groan, hiding her face in her hands and begging the earth to just open up and devour her whole after making a fool of herself in public like this. This was the kind of thing that Noire had secretly read about happening in her romance novels, not something that might actually happen in her lifetime.

A beat passed between the group until it was broken by Uzume beginning to laugh boisterously in a way that somewhat reminded Noire of Neptune's own laugh, but was so subtly different that it made the sable-haired girl's heart flutter.

At first expecting the redhead to shoot her down, Noire's head lifted when she listened to what Uzume's response was "that certainly is the most unique confession I've ever heard" she admitted cheerfully "but why the heck not, if Nepsy thinks that you're good people then we can't go wrong on a date."

The comment was so very similar to Neptune that Noire still couldn't fully wrap her mind around the fact they were two different people, but the violet-haired girl had begun laughing at the awkward situation and Blanc was trying to shush her girlfriend so they could place their orders while Vert remained uncomfortably quiet.

They managed to get through placing their orders without another outburst from Noire thankfully, and it was only after the waitress departed that Vert spoke up again with a smug look on her face that made Noire's stomach drop.

"It looks like what Noire has been looking for all this time is someone like Neptune but with a little bit of muscle on her" Vert teased, making Noire hide her face in her hands again as Neptune and Uzume laughed at the joke, while thankfully Blanc covered her mouth to hide her chuckles.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

 **I'm sorry that it took so long to get another part of this out, but I honestly only had a couple ideas, and they were so similar to what I'd been writing lately that I didn't want to publish them.**

 **After re-reading a particular review though I began thinking about ways to make this story a bit more unique, and realized tormenting poor Noire is always tons of fun. Having Uzume be that poor tsunedere's love interest was just too tempting, since it's a pairing that I don't think I've ever seen done.**

 **The girl's professions were a cause of momentary pause for me, since I never thought all that deeply about it before now. I knew in rough drafts that I definitely wanted Vert to own her own game shop since it's the only profession I think fits her other then being a game designer.**

 **Noire was much more difficult to work with, and I immediately scrapped my first idea of having her be a best-selling writer after realizing that's where I wanted Blanc to sit. Having her be a pencil pusher was also trashed since that's way too mundane for her. Then I remembered in the anime that she designed her own cosplay outfits and it was just like 'light bulb.'**

 **I would hope that Uzume being a boxer would be pretty obvious considering her character, but I know nothing about boxing, so I tried to tread carefully around that topic.**

 **Anyways with my musing out of the way for now here's hoping that my beloved readers have been lucky in love even despite an occasionally awkward confession or two, and that we can all continue to root for poor Noire.**

 **Until next time everyone I love you guys!**


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